On my monhull sailboat, a 28 foot center cockpit sloop, there is enough weather helm that if I left the boat to it's own devices it will head up and luff in the wind. While I do not consider this a primary safety measure, it is nice to know.

When I am on the Wave and I am screaming along on a nice fast reach the boat seems so well balanced that when I take my hand from the tiller bar and leave the boat to it's own....she just keeps going. Same heading and same speed. I have tried this many times over different days.
What happens if I fell off the boat? It seems that she would just keep on her last course and speed. Aside from the fact that I would be floating in the bay with little way back home....I am concerned about the Wave crashing into something or someone at some point at a pretty good speed.

Yes, I've noticed that too. Cats do have very different sailing characteristics that sloops. I used to have problems tacking through the wind, until I learned the procedure. My guess is that without your ballast, and depending on the wind/water conditions, it might actually capsize within several yards of your disembarkation. I guess that's one of the mixed blessings for sailing a well designed boat well. An interesting experiment would be to sail on a close reach toward a safe landing zone, and jump off and see what it actually does. That's a pretty scary proposition though.

What you would like to have is weather helm which there are many ways to accomplish but probably the easiest way is to rake the mast further back. If you've ever windsurfed that should help explain things, raking the mast back turns the bow into the wind and raking the mast forward turns the bows away from the wind. Same rule applies with the Wave.

We have all of our rental boats set up where is you let for the boat will round up into the wind...most of the time. Raking the mast back should make this happen. You do not want to much or it will get hard to steer! Play with it until u find that happy medium!

Thanks for the knowledge about how mast rake affects the balance. That will make a in how I have been setting up the boat. I thought mast rake was just for power purposes. More rake in stronger winds to power up, less rake is lighter air to get some power.

I will experiment a bit and report back. I appreciate all the help that I have gotten on the board. Thank you all.

On my monhull sailboat, a 28 foot center cockpit sloop, there is enough weather helm that if I left the boat to it's own devices it will head up and luff in the wind. While I do not consider this a primary safety measure, it is nice to know.

When I am on the Wave and I am screaming along on a nice fast reach the boat seems so well balanced that when I take my hand from the tiller bar and leave the boat to it's own....she just keeps going. Same heading and same speed. I have tried this many times over different days. What happens if I fell off the boat? It seems that she would just keep on her last course and speed. Aside from the fact that I would be floating in the bay with little way back home....I am concerned about the Wave crashing into something or someone at some point at a pretty good speed.

Does anyone have thoughts or experience with this?

Thanks,Jeff

If your concerned over loosing your new wave, simply use a safety cord around the ankle or wrist.The wave will turn into the wind and luff until it comes about on it's own and then repeats.Falling off a boat is a real concern and you should attend to the possibility of it happening. Ben

I would NEVER NEVER NEVER recomend attaching yourself to the boat by any type of a leash of lanyard. I know in large monohull sailboats when single handing it is recomended that you wear a harness. However usually the purpose here is to keep you from falling OUT of the boat in the first place. Since cats sit much lower to the water, the only thing at best you will end up doing is being drug behind your cat. Which might not seem like such a big issue, but consider the fact of how would you release the leash if you really had to... It is not worth the risk, consider if the boat capsized and you got tangled in the rigging, or your leash got caught in the tiller/rudders, and you got trapped under the boat. NOT GOOD!

Your best bet is to just set your rig correctly in the first place. Play with your mast rake until when you let go of your rudders you have slight weather helm, also in heavy weather it is a good idea to get in the habbit of not cleating your mainsheet.

I know on the 16s you can adjust your rudder rake. Raking further forward will induce leward helm. To counter for excessive mast rake, raking the rudders further back will induce weather helm. Can you do this on a wave?